


Winter Soldier Drabbles

by luredin



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Character Study, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Ficlet Collection, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Rating May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-06 22:19:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15895263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luredin/pseuds/luredin
Summary: A collection of drabbles and short ficlets centering around one James Buchanan Barnes. Any content warnings will be posted in the beginning chapter notes.





	Winter Soldier Drabbles

James Buchanan Barnes was not a fragile man.

The video plays on a constant loop on the screen inside the Smithsonian, and The Soldier has studied James Buchanan Barnes’ face far too long. The face is the same as his own—but he knows, he is not this man. This was a man who was plentiful with his smiles, free with his laughter, probably over-generous with his affections. His face was warm and open and unaffected. Even though there was a vulnerable cast to his eyes that seemed to encapsulate the entire breadth of humanity with a single look, it only served to make him appear stronger. Not fragile, no—he was capable, and sure, and very, very much alive.

The Soldier is not alive. He is a ghost, a memory, smoke on the water. His expressions are guarded. His eyes are cold-edged, steel. He does not smile; he does not show emotion the way James Buchanan Barnes did. And even if he could, he wouldn’t want to because the world he’s in now doesn’t deserve to share in the depth of his feelings. He knows, instinctively, that keeping these things wound tightly inside of himself, for only himself to see, is the safest, smartest way to be.

He knows this until the day his eyes meet Steve Rogers’ across the crowded museum floor. The Soldier doesn’t see the man from the bridge; he doesn’t see the man he pulled from the river, or even the man from these video reels. He doesn’t see Steve Rogers at all. Instead, he sees himself written in every line and shadow of Steve’s face. He looks at Steve Rogers as if he is seeing himself for the very first time, and he knows. 

The Winter Soldier is a fragile man.


End file.
